INCIDENTS IN BERLIN

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25580, 23 August 1948, Page 7

INCIDENTS IN BERLIN

Western And Russian Sectors’ Police TENSION ALONG BOUNDARY (Rec. .9 p.m.) LONDON, August 21. Russian military police penetrated the British section of the Potsdamer Platz early to-day and kidnapped two British sector German policemen, according to agency messages from Berlin. One British policeman escaped. Persons who saw the incident reported that a Russian officer approached policemen who were patrolling the British side of the Potsdamer Platz and told them to accompany him into the Soviet sector. They refused, but other Russians arrived on the scene and started to drag the policemen into the Soviet sector. The British and United States Military Governments have officially demanded that the Russians release the kidnapped policemen. It is officially announced that all American military policemen have been placed on the alert to stand by for possible trouble on their sector boundaries. The British have not issued similar orders, but have sent extra detachments to Potsdamer Platz. The British Commandant in Berlin (Major-General Herbert) inspected the scene at the Potsdamer Platz and checked the Britislf sector boundaries with the aid of a map. British military police painted “British Sector” in large yellow letters at frequent intervals along the boundary line in the middle of the Potsdamer Platz. The American authorities are seeking direct discussions with the Russians over the war between the rival police forces, in an effort to avert the threat of a physical clash between the Russian and Western occupying forces, which has become acute since the Russians began using soldiers to support raids by the Communist-con-trolled police. An American spokesman expressed the fear that something might happen which would involve more than Germans.

Black Marketers in Square Four hundred black marketers, under the eyes of a few Soviet sector German police and Russian guards, resumed business guardedly in the Potsdamer Platz after the Soviet military and German police raids earlier in the day. British military police and British sector police units patrolled behind the boundary line they had painted. American military police took up handy positions out of sight from the Soviet sector, ready for any trouble. The black marketers scattered when Russian sector police reinforcements poured into the Potsdamer Platz early in the evening. Three Russian officers, watched by a crowd of 4000, crossed the square and asked the United States military police for co-operation in clearing the Potsdamer Platz. .The United States Deputy-Provost Marshal (Colonel Kelly) bluntly told the Russians that the American sector police would take any action necessary, as the people were in the American sector. The Russians inquired v why the American military police were in force on the boundary. Colonel Kelly answered that they were protecting the American sector. “Our troops stay here.” he said. The Russian captain replied: “Ours stay here loo.” Later, Colonel Kelly ordered the Western sector police to clean up the black market operators on the American side of the Potsdamer Platz. He said: “We shall clean them up and keep them cleaned up, to prevent any provocation on the sector border.’’ The British, United States, and Russian military police' withdrew from the Potsdamer Platz at nightfall, each leaving only one jeep-load in the square.

Stabbing Alleged and Denied “According to an American official, Russian soldiers stabbed Western sector policemen this morning in an altercation on the sector boundary near the Potsdamer Platz,” says Reuter’s Berlin correspondent. “The official added that Russian soldiers standing inside the Soviet sector threatened Western policemen standing on American territory. The Western police drew revolvers and the Russians crossed the street into American territory. “In the course of a confused sght one policeman was stabbed and another knocked unconscious with a blow from a rifle butt. The Russians then dragged the two policemen across the street into the Russian sector.”

The Soviet-licensed German News Agency described as pure invention the reports that one policeman was stabbed and another knocked out. Soviet sector police made a black market raid on the Potsdamer Platz on Friday night, when they made a number of arrests. Half an hour. afterwards the black marketers were again in full operation with about 300 persons buying and selling currency, cigarettes and chocolate. The black marketers. however, darted for cover when Russian sector police cars made half-hourly patrols. According to the Russian-licensed News Agency the Russians rounded up over 2500 people in Berlin on Friday in black market raids. Russian Blockade Blamed The United States commandant (Colonel Frank Howley) said to-day: “The Russian blockade has created a situation in which incidents like Thursday night’s (when German police in the Russian sector fired on black marketers) can arise. People are forced into the black market because they are deprived of the normal means of obtaining essential goods. The German people have lost respect for the Russian sector police because the Russians and the German Communists use them for political purposes rather than for enforcing the law. The fact that the deputy police chief of the Russian

sector (Hans Seidel), who directed the raid, is a known criminal, further undermines their respect.” The Russian-controlled Berlin trade union movement has written to the city’s four Allied commandants calling for concerted action against the “growing hordes of black marketers.” Soviet sector German police on Friday arrested the Berlin coal distribution chief, Kurt Mueckenberger, in his office in the Russian sector. The Russian authorities ordered his dismissal days ago. but Western Allied officials insisted that he remain in office. The British-licensed “Telegraf” says that the Russians are building a new airport near Rheinsberg, about 35 miles north of Berlin.